However, the 2002 report issued by the International Eminent
Persons Group, acting with the encouragement of the US State
Department, found the SPLA as well as
pro-government militias guilty of abduction of civilians.

The Embassy of the Republic of Sudan denies that there is slavery
in Sudan, saying that these reports are attempts to shed a bad
light on Muslims and Arabs, and that slave redemption programs are
fraudulent attempts to make money. According to the Embassy of
Sudan, there are documented instances of people, who were not
slaves, being gathered together and instructed to pretend they were
being released from slavery.

Christian Solidarity International Claims that there are 200,000
slaves in Sudan, while Save the Children puts the number at 7,000.
Italian missionary, Father Mario
Riva and others who have witnessed "slave redemptions" have claimed that the
process was a fraud as some of the "freed slaves" were collected by
the SPLA with the promise of receiving money.

According
to CNN, Christian groups in the United States
have expressed concern about slavery and religious oppression
against Christians by Muslims in Sudan, putting pressure on the
Bush administration to
take action.[112178] CNN has also quoted the U.S.State Department's allegations: "The [Sudanese] government's support
of slavery and its continued military action which has resulted in
numerous deaths are due in part to the victims' religious
beliefs."[112179]

Fraudulent reporting

The Report of a Canadian Assessment Mission which was published in
February, 2007 was drafted by the Canadian Special Envoy to Sudan,
John Harker:

According to Christian
Solidarity Worldwide, early trips of slave redemption, where
charities bought the freedom of slaves, were successful in freeing
thousands of slaves. CSW says some of their representatives
discovered a man who was defrauding organizations that were trying
to redeem slaves, and later a man came to the Sudan People’s
Liberation Movement/Army and confessed to having a part in
defrauding these organizations. According to CSW, Dr. Samson Kwaje
says he doubts that even 5% of the supposedly freed people were in
fact slaves, and that many were instructed in how to act and what
stories to tell. Eventually, according to CSW, many slaves were
released for free, putting cons out of business.The European
Sudanese Puplic Affairs Council has questioned whether the Sudan
People's Liberation Movement/Army is a reliable source for
determining the existence of slavery calling them an "authoritarian
organisation".

History of slavery in the Sudan

Slavery in the Sudan has a long
history, beginning in ancient Egyptian times and continuing up to
the present.

Prisoners of war were regularly enslaved by the ancient Egyptians,
including Nubians.[112180]

Soon after
the Arabs conquered Egypt, they
attempted to conquer Nubia; their efforts were
unsuccessful, and in 652 they signed a treaty with the Nubian
kingdom of Makuria, the Baqt. Under this treaty, the Nubians agreed to
supply 360 slaves annually to their northern neighbors.

After the Nubian kingdoms' fall in 1504, the Funj came to the fore; these began to use slaves in the
army in the reign of Badi III (r.
1692-1711)[112181]. Following their own fall, the area again
became a field for Egyptian slavers; notably, the ruler Muhammad Ali of Egypt attempted to
build up an army of Sudanese slaves.

Slavery was banned by the British humain rights after they
conquered the region.